Ink Blossoms
by shingekinorivaille
Summary: At age five, an inky black will blossom somewhere on your body, indicating where your soulmate will first touch you. When that day comes, the ink will turn to a brilliant, swirling blue bright enough to light up a room. For some, the marks disappear, but for others, their marks will always shine when near their soulmate. And for the truest of soulmates, they see visions.
1. Swirling

**Ink Blossoms  
**

 **Chapter One: Swirling**

 **A short and sweet beginning. I'm super in love with this pair and there isn't nearly enough fic out there for them. I don't know how long this fic will be or how long it'll take me to write, but I'm hoping you guys will like it!**

* * *

It happens at age five. A black mark begins to bloom somewhere; for some, it's their palm. For others, a bold handprint is splayed across their cheek. For Hitch, the blackness blooms across her fingertips on her right hand. She remembers the day the inky blossom had appeared well. She had been sitting at the dining room table, her mother smiling as she cut a piece from the cake she had made for Hitch's birthday. As her mother set the cake carefully in front of her, she watches the ink begin to cloud around her fingertips when she reaches for her fork.

She remembers staring in awe. It was captivating to watch. The ink swirled around for hours, eventually settling into a matte black. Her mother explains that the blossom would stain her fingers until she meets someone special, and when the touch for the first time, her fingertips will meet a part of them. She remembers the fond smile on her mother's face as she tells Hitch the blossom will turn to a brilliant, swirling blue that lights up the room when you first touch your soulmate.

Eventually, however, the black and blue will fade away, with nothing but memories of the marks. She says that some people have stronger bonds than the rest. Sometimes, for these people, the blue hue will stay forever ingrained in their skin, always glowing softly when their soulmate is nearby.

Her mother doesn't say much else, instead patting her daughter's wavy, amber locks and leaving her to happily eat her cake.

If only life could stay this easy.

* * *

Jean is slower than his friends. It's not his fault that his mother insists on feeding him so much food, but it makes it hard to keep up with the others. But on his fifth birthday, he remembers coming to a halting stop, feet pushing harshly into the dirt. This time was not to catch his breath, but instead to stare at the black mark, beginning to swell on his right wrist. He furrows his brows, blowing air through his lips. _What is this?_ he thinks, running his fingers across the inky mark.

One of the other boys calls out to him, but when Jean doesn't answer, he marches over to ask if he's too tired to play. When he sees the inky color clouding the other boy's skin, he states loudly, "I have one, too!" The boy pulls up his sleeve, showing off the the marks that lay along the inside of his elbow, similar to fingertips digging into skin.

Jean's don't look like that, though. They head straight for his hand, like inky black veins that only appear for an inch or so. Ignoring his friends, he runs home to wave his wrist in his mother's face, eyes full of questions he doesn't know how to ask.

His mother sits him at the table and she rests in the chair beside him. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail and she holds a damp dish rag in her hands. "Has anyone ever told you about soulmates, Jean?"

The young boy shakes his head.

"Hm, I see," his mother says softly, setting the dish rag on the table. "When you turn five, ink blossoms appear on your skin." She taps his right wrist, causing his attention to shift to the black marks again. They're hardly swirling anymore, instead settling into a matte. "These blossoms are where your soulmate will touch you for the first time."

With his head tilted, eyes moving to meet his mother's once again, he asks, "What does a soulmate do?"

He watches his mom pause and her lips purse for a moment before she answers, "They care for you." She doesn't say anything else, but judging by the glint in her eye, Jean feels like there's more.

"You don't have a mark anywhere," he says.

"Mine disappeared the day I met your father," she smiles softly, "Mine was here," she points at her right palm. "Mine was much more blotchy than yours."

"Why is it gone?" he asks, staring at the blank skin of his mother's palm.

"When you touch them for the first time, everything lights up in this bright, swirling blue. If you could light up water without the candle going out, that's how it would look. For some people, it will still light up when you're with your soulmate. Some say those people have visions of each other, too, but I've never met anyone like that before."

That night, he dreams about a small girl with wavy amber hair and eyes to match. He imagines the color is similar to the grain fields he's heard about in villages far from Trost. She reaches out to him, her fingertips a brilliant blue.

* * *

 **Are we off to a good start? What do you guys think? Future chapters should be longer. This was mostly to introduce the concept of the story. I live and breathe reviews and comments, so let me know what you thought!**


	2. Enlistment

**Ink Blossoms**

 **Chapter Two: Enlistment**

* * *

Hitch's fingers curl around the edge of her jacket, pulling it on. Smoothing out the rough fabric, she glances around the room at the other recruits, who are in varying stages of gearing up for the first time. Some have hardly managed to pull on their belts, others are fully dressed and chatting animatedly with each other. She can hear small snippets of conversations ringing throughout the room:

"God, Mikasa, I _don't_ need help!"

"I think the Military Police are the way to go."

"Oh, yeah, definitely. The Scouting Legion is full of crazy bastards."

"Where did you get that potato?"

She sighs, her lips forming into a small pout. These people all seemed incredibly _annoying_.

The door to the large room swing open, hitting the wall with a loud _slam_. Some recruits calmly look up while other jump or yelp in surprise. (Hitch is proud to say she calmly looked up when the door opened, thank you very much.)

"Recruits," the man says, his voice deep and echoing off of the stone walls, "five minutes until you're expected outside. Don't bother coming if you can't properly gear up."

The door closes with as loud of a slam as before, and there's a moment of calm before what the man said properly registers in everyone's minds. Suddenly, the room if frantic; belts, jackets, and boots are flying everywhere. Hitch notices a few others are heading for the door already, so she opts to follow them, rather than stay in the pit of the madness.

She nearly groans when she steps outside. It had been cool inside, but outside the sun was scorching hot against the sandy landscape.

Slowly, recruits trickle outside, forming a large group on front of a small, wooden stage. There are multiple soldiers on the stage, some chatting while others stare intently at the group forming below them. The soldier from the Scouting Legion was giving her the creeps. His piercing blue eyes were digging into the crowd. What did he want, anyway? Hitch had a feeling that most of these people wouldn't survive training. Why bother trying to recruit now?

She watches as a man she doesn't recognize takes center stage, but he's wearing a long jacket with two swords crossed: the symbol for the trainee branch of the military. He clears his throat loudly, demanding the attention of everyone in the area.

"Trainees," he says loudly. It takes a moment, but soon all of them realize that they should solute. Hitch feels and odd rush fly through her body as she slams her right hand over her heart in a fist. She couldn't place why she felt it, but there was no denying the sudden excitement coursing through her veins. Training wouldn't be great, but being in the Military Police will be.

The man nods, and everyone drops their solute. She can feel a sticky sweat forming on her skin and she shifts uncomfortably. She doesn't want to deal with feeling disgusting all day.

Once again, she glances around, taking in the people around her. There's a boy with captivating green eyes not far from her, although the look on his face borders on terrifying. The girl next to him… was wearing a scarf? In the middle of summer? In this heat?

Glancing to her other side, a freckled boy stands nearby, very obviously concentrating on whatever this man has to say. _Oh right,_ she thinks, _I'm supposed to be paying attention._

And for a moment, she nearly does, but the boy standing beside freckles catches her eye. From the side, she can make out that he has brown eyes with blonde hair sticking out in every direction. His undercut is darker though. Noticeably darker. There's no way that's natural. Her eyes linger on him a few seconds longer, trying to decide where she's seen him before, or if she ever has at all. He looks oddly familiar, but she feels like she would have a much clearer memory of his hair.

She turns her attention back to the man talking at them on the stage, trying to shake whatever feeling _this_ is. She tunes back into the man's speech, which must be coming to a close given the information he's spouting, "As you know, there are three branches of the military that you can join once you graduate from training. Please keep in mind that most of you will not survive training, however, and many of you will drop out or die," he pauses, and Hitch has a feeling it's for dramatic effect, but it definitely seems to send shivers down some people's spins, "If you live, you can join the Wall Garrison, who keep and eye and do repairs on the walls, the Scouting Legion, who go outside the walls to learn more about the titans, or the Military Police, where you will serve the king. Please remember only those who graduate within the top ten of your class will be able to join the Military Police. You will now hear from the head of each military branch. After, you will have dinner and then you will be assigned your training station. Stations will be posted outside of the main building in alphabetical order."

* * *

Hitch shifts on the uncomfortable bench, pulling herself closer to the table and piling some food on her plate. It didn't look great but it also didn't look totally horrendous, so she took a decent amount.

"Hey," the boy from earlier greeted as he sat across from her, along with freckles beside him.

"Hi," she says, almost hesitantly, watching him pile food onto his plate.

"I'm Jean, and this is Marco," he jerks a thumb at freckles.

"It's nice to meet you!" freckles, or Marco, beams, "What's your name?"

"Hitch," she states.

"Weird name," Jean replies, stuffing some of the unnamable food into his mouth.

"Jean!" Marco hisses, elbowing the boy. He then continues to scoop food onto his plate and directs his attention back towards Hitch. "So, which branch do you want to go into?"

"Military Police."

"Oh! Me too! Why?" Marco looks kind of like a puppy and Hitch wonders if he'll even make it through training.

"Safety inside the walls," she shrugs.

"Me too," Jean pipes up from his food. He nudges Marco, "This one wants to serve the king."

Hitch raises her eyebrows at freckles, but his sheepish smile is so genuine she can't help but think he _actually_ wants to serve the king. Swallowing her food, she asks, "Where are you guys from?"

"I'm from Jinae," Marco smiles fondly.

"Trost," Jean says.

"I'm from Krolva, so I'm not far from you," she nods to Jean.

He opens his mouth to speak, but isn't given the chance when a commotion breaks out at the table beside them. The chatter in the room dies down as everyone looks to see what's happening. A girl with reddish brown hair pulled into a loose ponytail is holding a basket of bread over her head, her other hand pushing a bald boy away. "Listen," the girl says, "I'm starving and you can't steal from a girl."

After another minute or two of struggle, the room grows bored of the argument and chatter fills the room once again, the two still fighting over the bread. Hitch doesn't bother to rejoin the boy's idle conversation. Instead, she quickly finishes her food and heads outside to see where's she been placed for training.

* * *

 **We don't actually know Hitch's hometown, so I picked a random town within Wall Rose.**


	3. Touch

Chapter Three: Touch

Hitch groans through a large yawn when she hears a loud banging from outside the barracks. This definitely was her least favorite part of the day. Each and every morning, Shadis would bang some loud metal symbols in the center of the barracks, waking everyone up in the worst way possible. She forces herself out of bed and pulls out the trunk located beneath her bed, rummaging around for her uniform and belts.

Training has been nowhere near easy over the last few months. Many recruits has dropped out rather quickly, while a few others had actually been killed from the intensity of the training. Hitch didn't think it was that terrible, but it was much more work than she wanted to put in. However, she has been working quite hard over the last few months because if she plans on getting into the Military Police, she has quite a bit to compete against. The group of trainees she had been placed with were all talented and dedicated, which was a deadly combination for those who wanted a lush lifestyle in the interior without putting the work in.

Walking outside, the sun was already beating down on them. Hitch adjusted her straps, glancing around at the others. They walked like zombies towards the mess hall, only a few people chipper this early in the morning. She catches Marco animatedly talking to Jean, who looks like he's about to pass out. Eren is telling a story to those standing around him with Mikasa and Armin flanking him on either side. Hitch's eyes land on Annie for a split second, but she quickly looks away. That girl is terrifying, and even more so at this hour.

Breakfast seems to wake everyone up, although Hitch doesn't know how, given how bland it is. She hears some kind of squabble at the table behind her, which most definitely involves Sasha and Connie.

The loud banging starts again, signaling the recruits to make their way to the training grounds. As the recruits line up and solute Shadis, he drops the large symbols to the ground, motioning for the trainees to drop their solutes. He clears his throat and begins speaking loudly, "Recruits! We will be starting this morning off with hand to hand combat! Do _not_ mess around, it will not be tolerated," he finishes, his eyes landing directly on Sasha and Connie. The group snickers at the two, who are blushing furiously at being called out by Shadis.

"On that note," he adds, "I want you all to spar with someone new today. You've all grown too comfortable."

Hitch glances around herself. Everyone looks lost, having to pair up with someone other than their usual partner. Her eyes land on Jean, who still looks like he could fall asleep right then and there. Marco has already paired off with a very bubbly Christa. Hitch comes to a stop in front of Jean, her arms crossed over her chest. "Should we do this?" she asks, annoyance glinting in her eyes. Sparring wasn't even necessary. Their enemy is titans, not humans.

Jean nods, not bothering to give her an actual answer. She follows behind the boy, who walks out of the clump of recruits and towards a much more open area. He stops walking after a few moments, stopping to face her. "Who attacks first?" he asks, sleep still lacing his voice.

Hitch pauses for a moment, squinting at him.

His eyebrows raise the longer she stares and he eventually asks, "What, do I have something on my face?"

"No," she says, "I'm still trying to decide what's going with your hair."

His hand reaches up, attempting to flatten it down, "What about it?"

"Why is it like that?"

"Like what?" he asks, brows furrowing. He feels too tired to deal with this kind of shit this early in the morning, but he continues to meet the girl's gaze anyway.

"The coloring," she says finally. "Why is it two colors? Is that natural?"

He sighs, "Hitch, you should really know the answer by now. I'm asked this on a daily basis. But yes, it's natural. No, I don't know how. Any other questions?"

"No, but you have obvious pent up aggression, so you can attack first."

He rolls his eyes, although she notes that he seems a little more awake after their exchange. "Ready?"

She positions herself to prepare for his attack and nods.

He shifts to run at her, but quickly says, "This one is a warm up, so we'll be slow." Then, he's running at her.

Her fingers meet his wrist and she feels a shock go through her entire body, followed by a warm, tingly feeling. They both immediately stop moving, their eyes focusing on Hitch's hand wrapped around Jean's wrist. Slowly, Hitch pulls her fingers away and flexes them. They're glowing a bright, brilliant, swirling blue. Her eyes shift to Jean's wrist. He has yet to move, but his wrist has illuminated itself in the same color. Hitch glances at his face and she sees both shock and surprise written all over his expression. She assumes she must look the same. His eyes eventually meet hers and she lets go of a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. He clears his throat and comes back to reality, looking around to see if anyone else has noticed them. So far, so good.

It's not like it mattered too much. Other 104th cadets had meet their soulmates since training had started. The first day, Connie and Sasha had brought everyone's attention to themselves when they fought over a basket of bread. Everyone had realized the situation before the two even noticed, who were too preoccupied with bread to pay any attention to what was happening. Ymir and Christa had also realized they were soulmates on the first day of training because of Ymir patting Christa's shoulder and letting our a loud laugh at something another cadet had said. Marco and Mina's fingers brushed at dinner one night a few weeks into training and the room was filled with bright blue. Some people had soulmates coming into training, like Reiner and Bertholdt or Eren and Mikasa.

"Okay," Jean finally says, meeting Hitch's eyes once again, "if we keep standing around, people will notice. We can meet up tonight after dinner and talk if you want." He lets his hand fall to his side, his wrist still glowing.

Hitch follows suit, her hand dropping to her side. She nods, "Yeah, that would be good. Let's get back to training."

* * *

Dinner finally rolls around. The day has dragged on and Hitch has been dying for tonight to come around so she and Jean can talk about this. It's driving her a little crazy. She was aware she had a soulmate, obviously, but the fact they her and Jean had gotten so far into training and never touched before seemed a bit unbelievable.

She settles in her seat across from Marco, although her eyes shift to Jean. He's hard to read, although she can tell he's tapping his foot impatiently beneath the table. At least he feels the same as she does, or so she assumes.

She reaches out and grabs a piece of bread from the basket in front of herself, placing it on her plate. She hears Marco gasp and internally groans. Of course he was going to find out; he's Jean's best friend, after all. But that doesn't change the fact that she didn't want to talk about this with anyone other than Jean yet, especially not with all of the cadets cramped into the tiny dining hall.

"Who?" he asks quietly. The only people who seem to take any notice are Jean and Mina.

Hitch doesn't reply, but her eyes slip to Jean. Marco follows her gaze, his mouth dropping into an ' _o_ ' shape. He smiles and elbows Jean, who grunts in reply.

The rest of dinner is agonizingly slow. After what seems like hours, Jean and Hitch make their way back to the sparring grounds to talk. Sasha doesn't have to run laps tonight, so they have the barren field to themselves.

The two stay silent for some time, not knowing what to say to one another.

"So," Jean says, his voice cutting through the cool nighttime air.

"So," Hitch replies, her fingers playing with her jacket.

Silence falls between them again.

"Is your wrist still glowing?" Hitch asks, glancing at her fingers. They're still glowing brightly, the light casting shadows on her face.

He nods, pushing his sleeve back to show her. "I didn't think it was supposed to glow for this long."

"My mom always said that if it glows for a long time, it means your bond is stronger than average," she wiggles her fingers again. It looks like bright blue ink is swirling around right beneath her skin.

He's quiet for a moment and then looks up at her again. The blue hues shine against her face and he realizes that she is really pretty. He pushes away the thought (and wills away the pink blush brightening his cheeks, although it's too dark out for her to notice) and asks, "Have you ever had visions or like… dreams with me in them?"

When he finishes speaking, Hitch feels something in her mind click. The reason Jean had looked so familiar is because she has been seeing small snippets of his life since she was five years old. She meets his gazy with wide eyes and nods.

"Glad to know I'm not crazy. I thought I recognized you the first day of training, but when you said you weren't from Trost, I couldn't think of anywhere else I could've known you from." He scratches the back of his neck nervously. "My mom always told me seeing visions of your soulmates is incredibly rare. She didn't think it was an actual thing."

"I didn't know it was a thing," Hitch says quietly, studying him a little closer than usual now that she knows where she recognizes him from.

From behind them, a loud banging of metal on metal sounds, signaling curfew. The two sigh and start their way back to the barracks.

"I guess we'll see how this goes," Jean says.

Hitch nods in agreement and wishes him a goodnight, heading towards the girls end of the barracks. Jean watches her walk away, his mind whirling with hundreds of thoughts at once. After she disappears through the door, he turns in the opposite direction, trying to decide how the hell he's supposed to sleep tonight.

* * *

 **And so the canon divergence begins.**


	4. Crumbling

**Chapter Four: Crumbling**

It's late. It's far beyond curfew, but it's been three years and the recruits really couldn't care less about being caught. What was running some laps and missing dinner at this point? Besides, tomorrow is their final day off before graduation anyways. Still in uniform and draped in dark green cloaks bearing the trainees symbol, the group is situated around a makeshift fire pit burning softly behind the barracks. Ymir has her arms wrapped tightly around Christa's waist, who's trying to squirm away from her mate to comfort a very forlorn Sasha, who's head is being awkwardly patted by a distressed Connie. Sasha _did_ miss dinner that night, and all she could do was whimper about the lack of potatoes and bread she had earlier in the night. Mikasa is fretting over something relating to a very annoyed looking Eren, with Armin attempting to relieve whatever tension is building between the two. Reiner and Bertholdt almost seem to be in their own world, with Reiner's laugh booming across the grounds, leaving the group somewhat worried about being caught. Marco and Mina are sitting nearby, having a hushed conversation. The looks on their faces imply that it's serious, so Hitch turns back towards Jean, whose eyes are fixated on the fire that's crackling in front of them.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks, her voice slightly below normal volume. She lets her hand rest on his arm and she stares at him.

"Who of us will be in the top of the class," he says. His eyes shift to meet hers.

"Are you worried?" she asks, not quite able to read whatever emotion is glinting behind his eyes.

"A little bit," he says,"I mean, we both want to be in the Military Police. Only ten of us can. It's a little stressful." He shrugs, glancing back at the fire.

Watching the fire reflect in his eyes, she leans back on the uncomfortable log, her fingernails digging in on either side of her legs to keep her upright. "Well, if one of us doesn't make it, it's not like we'll never see each other again. When you fill out all of the paperwork, you have to put down your soulmate, so they try to keep you close together. If one of us ends up in the Military Police and the other doesn't, then they can be in the Wall Garrison and request to be near the other. It shouldn't be _that_ hard."

He sighs, "You're right," a smile that doesn't reach his eyes appears on his lips, "it'll be fine."

* * *

Hearts are racing as the young cadets stand at the edge of the stage, Shadis and a few other shuffling through multiple papers and whispering amongst themselves. While tonight wasn't their final night as cadets, their time on this base was quickly coming to a close. Tonight was more important than any other so far though, considering tonight they would find out their final placements. Hitch could feel the nerves bubbling in her stomach, butterflies' wings tickling their way around her insides.

She's standing close to Jean, nearly shoulder to shoulder with him. Jean is in the middle of a light conversation with Marco, but she wishes he would stop. She absolutely cannot handle the feeling that's spreading throughout her body right now. Their moments left together could very easily be fleeting. She _knows_ that she shouldn't feel like this. Getting into the Military Police is her one and only goal, or at least it was. She always swore to herself that a soulmate would never get in the way of that - she always wondered why others would let it - but in this moment, standing here, _waiting_ , she understood.

Jean is silently aware of whatever battle Hitch is having with the rising panic and grabs her hand, intertwining their fingers. He doesn't acknowledge her otherwise, but the contact seems to ground her. It grounds him, too, but he doesn't show any change in his demeanor.

His conversation with Marco abruptly comes to a stop when Shadis clears his throat loudly, signaling the start of the night.

"Cadets," Shadis begins, "tonight, we will announce the Top Ten of the 104th trainees Southern Division. From there, you will be given twenty four hours to decide which branch of the military you want to join. Only the top can go to the Military Police, while anyone is allowed to join the Wall Garrison and the Scouting Legion. I will begin from number ten and work to one."

The silence is deafening. Hitch can hear her heartbeat like a drum in her ears.

"Ten: Hitch Dreyse."

She's still at first. She feels Jean's eyes on her - everyone's eyes are on her. She hesitantly glances at Jean, who tilts his head towards the stage. With a shaky breath, she lets go of his hand and steps forward. She blinks up at Shadis, whose hard gaze turns away from her and back the crowd radiating with nervous energy.

"Nine: Sasha Braus."

Pause. Sasha emerges from the crowd and Hitch is surprised to see she has no food in her hands.

"Eight: Connie Springer."

"Seven: Marco Bodt."

"Sixth: Jean Kirschtein."

Hitch's heart beats loudly in her chest as relief spreads throughout her entire body. They did it. They both made it.

"Fifth: Eren Jaeger."

"Fourth: Annie Leonhart."

"Third: Bertholdt Hoover."

"Second: Reiner Braun."

"First: Mikasa Ackerman."

In a few short days, they'll be in the safety of the walls. They'll be _safe_.

Or, so she thought.

* * *

A large crack of lightning throws Hitch directly on her ass.

"What the fu-" she starts, but her voice cuts out when she sees what's happening on another portion of the walls.

"Hitch!"

She turns, seeing Jean running towards her. He comes to a halt and pulls her onto her feet, brushing her sides off. "Are you okay?" his voice is quiet, so quiet she almost misses his questions. The silence below has turned into loud, panicked yells and screams.

"I-I'm fine. But-"

Jean glances over his shoulder, towards the large, muscley mass whose eyes are peering over the walls. He swallows, watching a fellow cadet - most likely Eren - head straight for it. "We should head down," he says, turning back towards Hitch. "They'll need all of us down there and ready to go when they make a plan." He takes a deep breath, studying her face. "We were so close."

She nods, swallowing hard. She could have avoided ever seeing a titan if they had left for the inner walls this morning, rather than tomorrow morning. Instead, she's watching them poor into the gate that's no longer there, while the Colossal Titan escapes into a mist of fog.

* * *

It is chaos. Pure chaos. They had been split into multiple groups and as far as Hitch was concerned, sent to die. The titans have essentially taken over every corner of Trost and while most of the citizens had been evacuated, the smell of flesh filled the streets, fresh blood splattered on every visible surface. They are low on gas and stuck in a building with titans clamoring below.

The carnage below makes Hitch sick to her stomach. She watches as Marco holds Jean back from the scared cadets who've given up. She's frozen in place as two large, gaunt faces appear at one end of the building. Jean is so close to them, _too_ close. She can't tell if she's screaming out to him to get away or not.

A hand - a giant hand - punches through the faces of the titans that are standing far too close with a sickening crunch.

"What?" she hears Jean say, watching him as he uses his gear to fly out of the giant hole.

"Jean, no!" she yells, running after him. A few other cadets follow, silence taking them over when they see the site outside.

"Is that… is that titan fighting other titans?" Connie speaks, his voice coming out low and laced with shock.

"It has been," Mikasa says, her eyes not straying from the titan. "It's been killing every single titan its come across."

They watch as the titan below rages on, but things quickly take a turn for the worse. The other titans begin attacking it, eating away at its flesh. Hitch and the others stare on in horror, until the titans begin to walk away, no longer interested in it or them. From below, they watch as someone appears from the titan's nape, clearly unconscious.

Mikasa lets out a gasp, quickly shooting down to the figure.

Eren.

It's Eren.

She feels Jean's hand on hers, but other than that, nothing.

* * *

"How is this _possible_?" she hisses.

"Shut up, we can't talk about it. We're the only ones that-"

The group falls quiet as another loud crack of lightning hits.

* * *

"Guys, what are you doing?" Marco asks as his feet hit the roof.

Reiner and Bertholdt turn, faces grim.

"What?" Marco asks again, walking towards them. "Did something happen?"

"You didn't hear us, did you?" Reiner stares at the freckled boy over his shoulder.

"No," Marco says, stopping. "Is it something I need to know?"

The two boys share a look before Reiner speaks. "No."

"Okay, well, we need to get going! There are more titans heading this way. We need to try and kill as many as we can so they don't follow Eren-"

"Right," Reiner doesn't wait for Marco to finish, taking off towards the nearest titan, Bertholdt close behind.

Marco tilts his head, somewhat confused at their behavior. After a moment, he brushes it off, aware of the titans that were stumbling closer and closer to him.

* * *

The aftermath of Trost pushes back any plans that Hitch and the others have of being moved to their new posts. The cleanup is disgusting and unsettling, with the streets full of half eaten bodies baking in the sun, pools of dried blood splattered haphazardly about, titan throw up oozing with spit, and the list goes on. Eren, Armin, and Mikasa have been rushed away for Eren's trial, leaving behind the rest of the 104th questioning what the hell had happened a few short days ago.

Hitch tugs her facemask off and rolls her gloves off of her hands, trashing them. A deep breath brings in the terrible smell of bodies that haven't been tended to, but Hitch sips her water regardless.

 _No use in passing out out here and being mistaken for a dead body, right?_  
She cringes at her thought process. Looks like her sense of humor has already taken a turn for the worse after the chaos of the last few days.

She nearly drops her water when she feels a hand land on the small of her back.

"Sorry," Jean says, giving her a look she can't quite read, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, it's okay… Guess I'm a little jumpy since…" she waves her free hand around.

He nods. "Listen, Hitch. I need to talk to you."

His tone makes her heart drop deep into her stomach, similar to the feeling she'd had as the Colossal Titan's beady eyes swept over Trost before kicking in the gate. "About?" she asks, forcing down another sip of water despite the sickening feeling.

Jean uses his hand to push her further into the shade, his eyes scanning the area. There wasn't anyone else around from what he could see. Bringing his gaze back to hers, he begins, "Are you still planning on joining the Military Police?"

Hitch furrows her brows in confusion. "Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I?"

Jean opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. He snaps it shut after a moment and looks down.

"What?" Hitch asks, stepping closer to him. "Are you telling me that you want to join the Scouting Legion now? That this attack has awoken some… some kind of bloodlust that you have to chase after?"

"No, I'm not like Eren," he says quickly, shaking his head. "I don't _want_ to fight titans or go outside the walls. I don't want to. But I think I have to."

"What the hell does that mean?" she snaps.

"It's a feeling."  
"You want to join the Scouting Legion because you have a feeling? Is that feeling a death wish?" Her head is spinning.

"I- maybe? I don't know, it's… you've seen Marco, right? He was badly hurt. Alive, but hurt. And so many of us died, Hitch. I can't sit back and do nothing after witnessing them first hand."

She lets out a deep sigh and squeezes the bridge of her nose. "What does that mean for us? I can't just turn off how I feel about you or the fact that we're soulmates." She does her best not to show that her head is spinning or the panic that's rising into her throat, causing it to close up and forcing tears to well up in her eyes.

"I know that," he says, his voice soft, his hands resting on either arm and squeezing gently.

"Then why?" she asks, her voice nearly cracking. _Fuck_ , she thinks to herself. She's not some over emotional girl. This shouldn't hurt the way it does.

"I feel like I need to protect the people I care about," he starts, "or something like that, I guess. I'm sorry. I know this means we can't be together, but it's what I have to do."

"Is it?" she asks, stepping out of his grip. "Is it really what you have to do?"

* * *

 **This skips around more than I would like it to, but I wanted to get through Trost! Comments are appreciated!**


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